March 17, 2025
Dr. Leah Barlow, an assistant professor at North Carolina A&T State College, is credited because the founding father of HillmanTok after she uploaded what she supposed as a course preview for her college students to TikTok.
In collaboration with TikTok, the United Negro Faculty Fund honored the contributions of the “HillmanTok” neighborhood and the Black educators who utilized the platform in an try and deliver Black historical past and Black research to the lots at a time when each appear to be uniquely susceptible in a classical training atmosphere March 11 on Capitol Hill.
In accordance with BET, Black content material creators and educators related to HillmanTok, which was named after the fictional HBCU popularized on “The Cosby Present” spinoff “A Totally different World,” met up with members of Congress in an try and deliver elevated consciousness to the work of these people to drive conversations concerning the energy of inclusive training and the preservation of Black historical past.
Dr. Leah Barlow, an assistant professor at North Carolina A&T State College, an HBCU, is credited because the founding father of HillmanTok after she uploaded what she supposed as a course preview for her college students to the platform.
Dr. Barlow’s content material went viral almost instantly, garnering greater than 3.6 million views and 550,000 followers over the course of every week.
Barlow was joined on Capitol Hill by different educators, together with however not restricted to CPA Thurman Brooks, Shyia Simmon, Gyllian Carter, and Kyra Brown, every of whom used the social media platform to interact their followers with content material geared in the direction of finance, STEM, the humanities, and private improvement in accordance with their experience in these fields.
In accordance with Ed Smith-Lewis, the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Institutional Applications on the United Negro Faculty Fund, the UNCF wished to highlight the brilliance of the Black educators and content material creators who’ve expanded and democratized entry to data utilizing digital instruments.
“UNCF is proud to associate with TikTok to amplify the transformative energy of the #HillmanTok motion,” Smith-Lewis advised Essence. “This collaboration celebrates the brilliance of educators, content material creators, and digital innovators who’re redefining the way forward for studying and storytelling. By harnessing the facility of expertise, we’re increasing entry, elevating the legacy of HBCUs, and interesting a brand new era dedicated to academic excellence. By means of this partnership, UNCF reaffirms its position as a catalyst for alternative—guaranteeing that HBCUs and their college students are outfitted to steer, innovate, and thrive in an evolving digital panorama.”
On Capitol Hill, the educators additionally utilized TikTok, capturing content material with a number of Congressional representatives, together with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who has used social media, together with TikTok, to deliver political dialogue on to her followers and constituents.
In one of many items of content material shared on Dr. Barlow’s account, Rep. Crockett pressured “the significance of understanding your historical past and understanding economics,” underscoring how training regarding politics and group economics usually goes hand in hand, some extent that the assorted chapters of the Black Panther Celebration of the Nineteen Sixties usually drove dwelling to their respective communities.
In accordance with The Hub, HillmanTok plans to maneuver from internet hosting content material on TikTok to a web site, which is hosted on GoDaddy and the area, hillmantokhbcu.com, merely communicates that will probably be obtainable quickly.
The web site is predicted to function a course catalog which is able to record all obtainable courses on provide, similar to those at brick and mortar HBCUs.
College students may even give you the option to enroll in classes on the location, which is beneficial, as TikTok’s future, and thus the supply and attain of HillmanTok’s classes is at present largely depending on how TikTok’s possession are seen by the US authorities.
As Dr. Barlow advised The New York Instances in February, the urgency created by the hostile political local weather to range spurred her to put up the preliminary video as Donald Trump was being sworn in and shortly moved to remove range, fairness, and inclusion from the federal authorities through government order.
“I believe that this has been within the making,” Dr. Barlow advised the outlet. “You’ve accessibility, not simply due to TikTok however you even have individuals who don’t need to be within the ivory tower to have the power to talk. That’s one thing that I discover each stunning and mandatory.”
Dr. Barlow continued, “I actually assume the political time and the atmosphere is rife with lots of rivalry,” Dr. Barlow mentioned, earlier than including that Trump’s assault on range packages had given a “contemporary urgency” to a venture that prioritizes the voices of Black educators.
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